


Red or Alive: Zombiestuck

by skys



Category: Homestuck
Genre: M/M, Zombiestuck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-27
Updated: 2014-12-27
Packaged: 2018-03-03 20:26:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2886428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skys/pseuds/skys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a world of kill or be killed, it's hard to find solace in the trust of anyone. So when Karkat Vantas, a short and stubby troll stuck in the apocalypse, hears rumor of someone camping out in the city with a bunch of supplies, he is guided there in a desperate hope for survival. Meeting new friends and new enemies a long the way, will he be able find peace in a land of war, or will he perish like all the others, lost to the world of death and suffering?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Red or Alive: Zombiestuck

**Author's Note:**

> Please note that the story does not just belong to me, given that it is very strongly based off a 40+ hour RP session that is still going on! All respected characters belong to Andrew Hussie, and the plot belongs to basically everyone who has participated in the RP session. A special shout-out to Axel, who played Dave, and his girlfriend Maddy! Also thanks to my roomies Jake and Raven, who played Jake and Dirk! Without these folk's support, this wouldn't have happened!

You're name is Karkat Vantas, and if there is one thing that you know to be true, it is that this fucking sucks. Although you have never been one to back down from a fight, you seem to be in a bit of a predicament here. First of all: you don't want to get hurt. Second of all: you don't want to get bit. So what does that add up to?

Stay to the shadows and don't be seen.

Pretty simple, right? 

Haha - no. Not in the Apocalypse. Not where there's a barely thin line from being stealthy to being killed. You wince as you nearly walk onto a small pile of gravel at the edge of the dusty town road. If you so much as kicked a stone there's no doubt a walker would fuck your day up. 

You grip your sickles tightly, hoping to God or whatever stupid fucking person decided to create this asshole-planet that you will  _not_ be seen, before heading out onto the open street. And perhaps God pulled through this time, because to your luck there is not a single survivor, nor walker, lumbering down the road with an appetite for short and angry trolls. You sigh with relief and walk down the street, still not daring to stop glancing around you in a futile attempt to watch ever corner and dark alley that you stroll by.

After a while of jogging down the road, you find that your barely useful and very weak body begins to protest against your endeavors of making actual fucking progress through the city, and you begin to pant like a woofbeast. Sighing, you decide to take a rest behind a pile of rubble near the corner of a street, and you do so, leaning your head against the concrete and breathing in heavily. 

"I swear to Gog that shelter those assholes told me about better be here somewhere." you whisper to yourself. Oh, yes, the shelter. Perhaps you, the reader, were wondering why the actual fuck you, as Karkat, are wandering through an infested city on your own during the Apocalypse? Well, let me tell you, there is a good reason. A few weeks ago - perhaps a month or two - you came across a group of especially stuck up survivors who granted you access into their ranks. You, Karkat, stayed for a few nights, letting them leech of your supplies and cling onto you like lost woofbeast puppies, until finally you snapped, stating that if they didn't pull their shit together, you'd lead. And of course, they didn't, so you opted to make your way into the city after one of them indulged that some asshole was living there in a store that was barricaded in, packed to the brim with supplies. Some thought it was a legend - that such a kid existed, living off of years worth of food and water all to himself, and others believed it, but either way, you packed up your things and left, heading to the city on the whim of some fucking fairy tale of a kid with supplies up the butt. 

The moral of that story? There is no moral. Just don't fucking get into the Apocalypse. That's all.

Your thoughts are very rudely, and very abruptly, cut off when something hard hits you on the top of the head lightly and bounces off your thick skull. You look down and watch as a bottle cap clatters to the ground lightly, and frown. What the fuck? Is it raining bottle caps now? Looking upwards with narrowed eyes, your suspicions are put to rest when you see a figure leaning forwards on the roof of the building behind you. You pause, unsure what to do. You can't even tell if it's a zombie or a survivor from down here. Sighing, you lift yourself up a bit, calling out in a harsh whisper, "Friend or foe?"

There is a pause as the figure disappears, and you conclude it must've been a walker or something, but then it shows up again and suddenly a long rope ladder falls to the ground beside you, and you nearly double over in surprise. "Friend!" the stranger replies, "Come up here, it's safer!" they call, hardly bothering to be all that quiet. You wince, realizing that you should either trust this person, or continue down the road. Who knows? Maybe this is the asshole with all the supplies you were told about? Either way, you have no choice at this point. You're tired, weak, and hungry, so you grab hold of the ladder and begin to pull yourself up, but not before realizing how much trust you are already placing in this person. They could easily untie the ladder, or just knife you the moment he got up there. Hardly caring at this point about the imminent doom, though, you continue up the ladder, slowly moving your shaky muscles as you get up to the top of the dusty, cold building. A hand reaches out to help you, but you shake it away, muttering a friendly "fuck off" to the stranger as you get up, dusting off the dirt from your sweater and arming yourself with your sharp sickles firmly as you stare up at your rescuer. 

She's a small troll - smaller than you, which is saying something, with bright eyes and a cute little horns. What's not cute about her, though, is the elongated cat claws that she has hooked onto her gloves, and the grim expression she has on her face as she stares at you. 

"I'm Nepeta," she begins softly, her voice like a meowbeast's mew but still stern and steady, "And I'll tear off your face if you try anything funny." 

Perhaps you should be a bit more scared, or even just a bit intimidated at the least, but this troll is so fucking  _cute_ that you can't help but untense a bit at her words. 

"I'm Karkat," you introduce, not bothering to shake hands like humans do. "and I won't fuck with you, if you don't fuck with me." 

It's simple: a very straightforward rule that Nepeta seems to understand as she takes step back, lowering her claws and nodding softly. You take this as a sign of acceptance - maybe even friendship - and relax, looking around her setup slowly. You are reminded of the refuge you so desperately seek for as you stare at her supplies. Nepeta, though sweet and quite adorable, is definitely not the asshole you are looking for. Her belongings are dwindled - a few snacks gathered up next to a pile of clothes, and a tarp that hangs loosely over a small shelter, and it is all protected fiercely by the cat-troll, who is busy staring at you with an increasingly curious stare. 

"Aren't you going to let your friends up?" she asks finally. You blink in confusion. First of all: what the fuck is she going on about? Friends? You don't have any. You haven't any since this shitstorm began. You haven't even traveled with anyone - Hell, the closest you got to a group was the one previously mentioned, where they told you about the kid in the city. You glare at Nepeta shortly, rolling your eyes.

"Nice joke.  _Har har har_ , I'm laughing so much my sides are hurting." you spit sarcastically. "Do I really look like the kind of troll to have friends?"

Nepeta suddenly tenses up without explanation and speeds past you to the side of the roof again, and you blink in surprise, turning back to look at her. 

"Then who are  _they_?" she asks to you, her gaze unmoved from the ground. You make your way suspiciously to the edge, leaning forwards a bit. Indeed, Nepeta is speaking the truth in that there are actually two short, stubby trolls on the ground. One of them, you note, looks a bit like you, only he has a red-ass sweater and he looks like he's about to flip. The other, meanwhile, is a calm and very well dressed female troll, with an elegant skirt and a very beautiful figure. You frown, turning your head to Nepeta.

"How the fuck should I know?" you respond.

Nepeta blinks again and looks away to the ladder, slowly making her way towards it. "Friend or foe?" she uses your own words from before. You tense up as you stare at them, realizing that they must've somehow been sneaking about for you not to have noticed them, and that they may have very well been trying to ambush you. You have to restrain yourself from grabbing Nepeta's shoulder and yanking her from the edge.

"Are you fucking serious?" you hiss, a bit quieter now that you're aware of the two strangers on the ground. "Are you actually considering letting them up here? You took a big enough chance with me, but  _two others_? Are you fucking  _suicidal_ or do you just think that everyone in the world is your  _furriend_  if they say so, hm?" you give a smirk as you mock her cat-like features, but she doesn't seem all that amused.

"Well," she drawls, staring at you through glittering eyes. "Maybe I'm just compassionate." she sighs, looking back down at the ground. "But you're right, I don't know them... but they look nice enough." With these words, she opens her mouth loud enough and shouts down at the two strangers, causing you to internally wince, wondering just how many walkers Nepeta probably has just attracted to you two in the short time that she yelled. "Give me a reason to let you up here!" she called down to them. "Hurry! I think there's a group of creepers close by!"

You have to stop yourself from yanking her back from the edge and explaining exactly  _why_ the zombies are being attracted there, but you pause, groaning and looking back down at the trolls, waiting for an answer.

The one who looks like you is the first to speak. "Well, I am an extremely diplomatic person, I believe. I would be able to help you if we were to encounter a group of living people. Experience shows that even the living can be hostile in times like this." he says all of this very quickly, and both Nepeta and you feel and look a bit flustered from his words.

Without another thought, though, suddenly the complete asshole is climbing up the ladder, nearly pushing aside the lady to his left in attempt to climb up the rope fast enough. You note this kid as a total jackass and step away from the side of the building as he climbs over the edge, panting and wheezing like he had just run a marathon. 

"You okay there?" you ask snappily. "Don't hurt yourself." you move away and watch as the more elegant troll makes her way up the ladder, pulling herself over the edge much easily and faster. You stare at the terrible duo of misfits for a moment, raising your eyebrow. You guess you should be less surprised than you are, currently, to find yourself in the vicinity of three new strangers, but you don't really care. All that matters to you now is the sudden groans of the undead as they begin to huddle down near the street, and how all of them seem to be lining up to try and claw their way up the building you're standing on. 

You slowly lean over the corner, watching them huddle around like flies to a dead corpse. Jegus fuck, what ugly bastards they are. You wonder to yourself for a moment if Nepeta would let you climb back down the ladder and take them out, but your thoughts are short-circuited for a second time as a sudden flash of red crosses the corner of your vision, and for the first time in ages, you catch sight of a living, breathing human.

A red human.

**Author's Note:**

> Read this story on Wattpad: http://www.wattpad.com/myworks/29272847-red-or-alive-zombiestuck  
> My tumblr: skeelur-things.tumblr.com  
> My Wattpad: http://www.wattpad.com/user/lasoupecampbell


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